News Media Alliance, NAB Take FCC To Court In Appeal Of Newspaper-Broadcast Cross-Ownership Ban

Appellant

The NEWS MEDIA ALLIANCE, formerly the NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, has taken the FCC to court in an appeal of the FCC's "inexplicable" decision in its ownership rules review that maintained the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership.  The case was filed as a Petition for Review in U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  Also filing a petition in the same court against the FCC's actions TODAY was the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS.

“After 41 years of abiding by a rule that has long outlived its purpose, we have been forced to fight the FCC’s decision in court,” said ALLIANCE President/CEO DAVID CHAVERN in a press release.  “Our industry provides long-term investigative journalism and local news and public affairs coverage that is intensely important to local communities.  It makes no sense at all to prevent newspapers from helping to fund this essential activity by receiving capital and collaboration by an aligned industry such as broadcasting."

“This rule prevents our industry from achieving the necessary scale to compete in media marketplace, while investment will continue to flow to Internet distribution platforms that compete with news publishers for advertising revenue. The result will be fewer resources for local news and investigative reporting, the foundation of an open democracy. We are deeply disappointed and we will fight to overturn these rules once and for all,” added CHAVERN.

The NAB's objection charged that the Commission "failed to take a fresh look at the broadcast ownership rules and to repeal or modify them in light of those changes.  Instead, it relied largely on its conclusions in past reviews that the rules should be retained and then reaffirmed each one -- with only minor modifications.... The broadcast ownership rules are relics of a long-gone era."

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